<path>/etc/make.conf</path> to allow our available packages to compile with

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ALSA support. If you have <c>oss</c> in your USE variable as well, ALSA will

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compile with OSS backward compatibility.

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</p>

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</body>

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<section>

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</section>

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<section>

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<title>Kernel modules</title>

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<title>Kernel Modules</title>

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<body>

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<body>

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<p>

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115

Since we're still using 2.4.x kernel sources, we'll have to compile kernel modules and ALSA modules separately. People who are using a 2.5.x kernel can do this from within their kernel configuration, since the ALSA modules are included in the kernel sources and should be built there.

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</p>

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<p>

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First of all, before continuing, make sure your kernel has <e>Sound Card

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Support</e> enabled. If you used <c>genkernel</c> to build your kernel, then

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this is automatically true. Otherwise reconfigure your kernel.

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<p>

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</p>

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First we'll make sure that our kernel configuration is ready for use with ALSA.

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All you need in your kernel configuration is having Sound Card Support set to be built as a module (M).

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<warn>

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This will build <c>soundcore.o</c>.

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If you use a 2.6 kernel you can skip the rest of this section and continue with

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<uri link="#alsa-utils">Installing the ALSA Utils</uri> as 2.6 already has the

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necessary ALSA drivers in it. Of course, don't forget to enable support for the

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sound card you have when configuring your kernel.

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</warn>

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</p>

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<p>

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Users of 2.4 kernel sources will have to install the necessary ALSA drivers for

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their soundcard. First find out what soundcard you have. An easy trick is to

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search for "audio" in the output of the <c>lspci</c> command. You can install

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it with <c>emerge pciutils</c>.

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<p>

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</p>

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<note>

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Possibly, this will also work when you built Sound Card Support in the kernel (Y) instead of building it as a module (M).

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<pre caption="Finding out the soundcard type">

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However, the official ALSA documentation suggests building it as a module, since ALSA will try loading it.